You’re in a rather stimulating period, a time in which you must be exceptionally mindful of the information that’s coming to you. This lunar eclipse relates to a rapidly expanding consciousness and awareness of your environment, which may come through an increase in social interaction or heightened intellectual activity. This changing chapter turns the tables on your current perceptual understanding, which may be threatening to any fundamentalist stance or carefully guarded dogma. But your life is so often colored by these perceptual breakthroughs, and this is certainly one of them. Over the past several weeks your curiosity has likely been engaged in a process of trying to better understand something about your life. Continue to follow these research trails, as well as your restlessness to experience something greater, more expansive and exotic. This is a moment to take your new understanding and reach out to a larger social environment. That may involve a need to connect with and contact a group of like-minded souls who share the same thirst for knowledge and new experience as you do. The more you branch out, the more you will learn.

The Sun and Mars have been traveling close in the sign of Leo for several weeks, relating a confrontation with experiences which have altered your worldview. It is times such as these that you get closer to some important lessons for your unique path and destiny. Consider that you’re currently receiving a critical education that goes beyond books or theoretical speculations. You’re in the thick of raw experience, and what you learn now has the capacity to greatly shape a new philosophy which can further guide your life. Consider that any challenges you’re presently encountering are simply the pains associated with the acquisition of wisdom. It’s time that you accepted just how valuable and precious that is. Keep pushing your boundaries over the next two weeks. The solar eclipse on Aug 21 will gift you another transformation of your awareness. You don’t need to step down from the mountain top just yet, though if you feel called, reach out for some social support to help you put things into greater perspective. Expect some final AHA! moments early Sept, followed by a call to step forth and become a little more public.

Mercury turns retrograde on Aug 12, and the days surrounding that transition could relate to some setbacks and glitches, but also the potential for misunderstandings within a community/public or professional role. In other words, someone may misinterpret what your saying, or may be merely spreading rumors. Make sure that what you say is true, and that what others say accurately represents you. For the next three weeks (Aug 12 until Sep 5), you’re likely to experience some rerouting in your current professional/career/public mission, a time to reassess the path that leads you to your highest goals. Look around for powerful clues that could help inspire you, and don’t feel pressured to have it all figured out just yet. You can take some solid steps after Sep 5, when Mercury is direct and Mars enters Virgo. Then you will have more confidence to follow through on a stable plan, but for the time being, begin thinking about what that might look like, and brainstorm about your options. Expect the usual delays, setbacks, and techno/mechanical hiccups to show up during this phase.

Aug 16 presents some interesting challenges, but also a day that can significantly work to catalyze you into action. While Mercury is retrograde, and it may be hard to have a concrete direction pinned down; look to this day as a moment to get you moving, which may be an active engagement with solving problems guided by a powerful intuitive awareness. With Venus squaring your ruler Jupiter, you may have to sort through the challenges that accompany interaction with larger groups or acquiring superficial relationships. Consider that you can have deep, meaningful interactions with someone sitting next to you on a flight, and yet never see that person again. Intimacy comes in many shapes and forms, and may not be long-lasting. That last part is the take-away point, that what you reveal now might make other people uncomfortable, but it’s likely you won’t continue further involvement. Be mindful, however, that what you let out may not be well received. If you feel you should dive in anyway, without that affecting your confidence, then go for it. Use this as an exercise to learn which boundaries you can or cannot cross.